Size comparison tool tipped to increase online jewellery sales

Online retail giant Shop Direct is trialling new technology that will allow customers to virtually compare the size of jewellery they want to buy with a model in their own size, or compare it with items they already own.

The company believes the software will help it boost mobile sales conversions of jewellery lines across websites such as Very.co.uk, VeryExclusive.co.uk and Littlewoods.com.

The platform it is using has been developed by Shop Direct’s partner Tangiblee, which is based in the US. It was created to help customers get an accurate perspective of the size of items before they order them.

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The software has already boosted sales of handbags and luggage, leading Shop Direct to begin trialling the latest version of the platform for watches and jewellery.

The trial will begin in Shop Direct’s in-house user experience lab, where the company will learn how customers interact with the platform before testing it across Very.co.uk, VeryExclusive.co.uk and Littlewoods.com.

Jonathan Wall, group eCommerce director at Shop Direct, said: “We’re committed to working with innovative partners that can make our customer’s online shopping journey the best it can be.

“Tangiblee’s technology is helping us do that; giving our customer confidence in the actual size of items before she buys. Our tests indicate the feature can support sales growth. We’ve been impressed with the Tangiblee team and their platform since we started working with them in late 2014 – and that’s why we’re trialling the latest version for jewellery and watches.”

In Shop Direct’s most recent test, the technology was visible to half of mobile device customers visiting all product pages across purses, handbags and luggage. The platform was not visible to the other half of mobile device customers.

The test found that the technology contributed to a 10% and 7% increase in net revenue per visitor and customer sales conversion respectively across product pages where the tool featured, compared with those pages where it was not present.

Meanwhile, 17% of the customers who saw the size comparison tool used it and interacted with it for an average of 28.6 seconds.